India releases Pakistani prisoner after 12 years

LAHORE: A Pakistani citizen who was imprisoned in India was released after 12 years.

Khalid Parvez was handed over to Pakistani security officials at the Wagah Border in Lahore, from where he left for his native city Narowal.

The 50-year old had travelled to India in 2005 to attend a cricket match but was later arrested from Gurdaspur in 2006 on charges of illegaly overstaying in the country.

Earlier this month, on November 2, the Indian government repatriated two Pakistani sisters after they spent 11 years in an Indian prison. One of the sisters’ daughter, who was born in the jail, was also with them.

The sisters’ family reached the border area to receive them.

According to sources, the two sisters, Fatima and Mumtaz, and their mother Rasheedan Bibi went to India via Samjhota Express in 2006, where they were arrested on charges of smuggling drugs.

The sisters and their mother, residents of Gujranwala in Pakistan, were sent to Amritsar prison, where the latter died after two years.

Fatima, who was pregnant at the time of the arrest, delivered her baby in the jail. The girl named Hina, now 10 years old, has also been sent back. The women were sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison and fined Rs200,000 each.

Although their jail term ended earlier in the year, they were still behind bars due to non-payment of the fine. However, a non-government organisation working in India filled the last requirement, freeing them from prison.

The Indian authorities have also freed fisherman detained for illegal fishing since the Arabian Sea border is not clearly defined.